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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Evergreen Gaming

Once again I find myself between Final Fantasy games. That means it's time for some evergreen games before I dive into the next entry in the series. For me evergreen games are those that have self-contained play sessions and no real "end" to the game.

First up is Mario Kart 8. Even though it's not much of a change from Mario Kart 7 it's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying my time with it. The biggest improvements are HD graphics and better online play. It's Mario Kart. If you like Mario Kart you will love Mario Kart 8. If you don't like Mario Kart you should skip it. You basically know what you're getting.

Hearthstone has gotten a ton of my time. Now that it's on iPad it's perfect to play while watching TV on the couch or laying in bed before falling asleep. I love that the games usually run somewhere in the 5-15 minute range. I know I can sit down and play without having to commit to long play sessions. It's easily the best digital card game out there on the market and it has the customary Blizzard level of polish. Once this comes out on smartphones I know it's going to get even more playtime from me.

Heroes of the Storm is another Blizzard game that has my attention. I got into the Alpha for it last week and I'm enjoying the changes they've made to the traditional MOBA playstyle. They've simplified parts of the genre that I hated. There are no items to buy. There is no micromanaging attacks against creeps. There are no individual levels. This means no one can ever mess up their build or get left behind as their teammates level up. It encourages teamwork and experimenting with different hero setups. Another thing I love is getting to pick my hero before queuing up. No longer can you get complained at by 4 other people because they wanted you to pick something different during the hero select screen. I've only had a couple days with it, but I really like Heros of the Storm so far.

And (kind of) lastly, is Attack of the Friday Monsters. It's an exploration game set based around the idea of 60s/70s era Japenese monster shows. It's weird. I like it. It's been mostly about exploring the world and interacting with other characters while slowly revealing more about them and the giant monsters that show up in the real world every Friday night. I love the feeling of the town and the exploration. There's a card mini-game tacked on too, but it's nothing special, the real star is the world they've created.

I've also played Super Mario 3D World, Luftrasers, and Mario Golf in the past few days but I don't have much new to say about them. They're good and they're fun. Maybe I'll dig into them more later.

Expect me to cruise along on these games for a week or two before I jump into Final Fantasy VIII.

2 comments:

Dammit I really want to try Heroes of the Storm. I keep hearing about people being able to play it. I swear I already signed up somewhere. I love MOBAs. I hope they do to MOBAs what they've already done to CCGs.

A Green Mushroom

This is a place for me to write down my thoughts on the world of gaming or any other subject that may catch my attention. Playing and discussing video games has been a big part of my life since I was a little kid. Although I hope to get comments and generate discussion, A Green Mushroom is mainly a spot for me to write about what I love, games.

I hope you enjoy reading A Green Mushroom. Feel free to leave comments.